BRADENTON, Fla. (WFLA) — A woman who went missing a year ago has been declared dead by a Manatee County Probate judge, the Bradenton Police Department announced.

Catherine Stirm, 67, was reported missing and endangered on Jan. 31, 2024, after her employer made multiple attempts to contact her with no success.

Detectives with the Manatee Homicide Investigative Unit believe Scott Stirm, 64, Catherine’s brother, had knowledge of her death, and she was likely dismembered and disposed of in an unknown location, police said.

Scott Stirm died by suicide on February 1, 2024.

According to BPD, Catherine spoke with co-workers on the phone the morning of Jan. 22, but did not show up to work on Jan. 23, which made co-workers worried.

Catherine had been with a local home healthcare company for more than 20 years and during her time there she kept the same routine. In the following days, her employers attempted to reach her but were not successful.

According to police, her employers reached out to Scott, who changed the reasoning for her absence multiple times.

Scott said Catherine was hospitalized with COVID-19 first, but later said she traveled to Michigan.

On the evening of Jan. 29, a woman who claimed to be Catherine called a co-worker at the healthcare company, but the employee immediately recognized it wasn’t her, and the call ended, according to police.

On Jan. 29 and Jan. 30, Manatee County deputies conducted a welfare check at Catherine’s home in the Fountain Lakes Condominium complex, but Catherine was not home and her car was not in the parking lot.

Catherine’s vehicle was located on Jan. 30 in the parking lot of Scott’s home at the Sawgrass Cove Apartment Complex.

During the investigation, Catherine was seen on a door camera entering Scott’s apartment on Jan. 22 and was never seen leaving the home, according to police. After Jan. 22, the camera recorded Scott struggling to remove heavy-duty bags from his apartment, and on Jan. 30 he was seen moving personal belongings.

Search warrants were obtained for Scott’s apartment on Feb. 1 where crime scene investigators found several items that included a hand saw, power saw, and cleaning products, police said.

During another search warrant that was executed at the Manatee County Landfill, detectives found a knife, hatchet, and bloody clothing in a bag that also had Scott’s mail.

According to police, on the night of Feb. 1, Scott’s vehicle was found in Brooksville at a Days Inn, and Hernando County deputies and Manatee homicide detectives responded to the room registered to him.

Upon their arrival, Scott had committed suicide, and evidence recovered with Scott included several handguns, ammunition, financial documents, and Catherine’s driver’s license.

Multiple items recovered were tested for Catherine’s DNA, but due to attempts to destroy evidence, DNA tests were inconclusive, BPD said.

This case was assigned to Bradenton Police Detective Jeff Beckley and the Manatee Homicide Investigative Unit due to suspicious circumstances.